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On Saturday, I got a call from a friend from my hometown. He said that there were protests back home for clarification from the government on whether Arunachal Pradesh had come under Chinese rule. All of this, apparently, started because Google messed up. When I checked for what happened, I found that Google Maps has named most of the towns of Arunachal Pradesh in Mandarin as opposed to Hindi (since Arunachal Pradesh is part of sovereign India). The Chinese must have been really happy. I mean, they were the ones who stormed out of the Simla Accord, and never really accepted the original McMahon Line. According to this report in The Times Of India, Google has admitted its mistake. But I was just thinking if Google really messed up or if it is vulnerable to Chinese hackers (there is a thicker dotted line of the Chinese-demanded border). Well, I have grown up picknicking and hiking in Arunachal Pradesh. The possibility of walking in Chinese terrain, I am not even thinking about it, even in my dreams. Tags: arunachal pradesh, google's map mess
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During the Independence Day weekend, a friend called me to ask if I can accompany him to North Karnataka to photograph for chances4childhood. I agreed and found myself on an SUV to North Karnataka that very evening. We were headed to Mudhol. Now the only thing I knew about Mudhol was the Mudhol Hound. In fact, much later, when I was roaming about the streets near the hotel where I stayed, I was astonished to see that almost all the stray dogs were quite tall and had the build of a hound. The journey had been bumpy and I had to head straight to bed the moment we reached Mudhol. After an hour's sleep and some breakfast we headed to several villages to look at the various clay dolls the children were modelling for the chances4childhood day of play. While moving from village to village, rain was aplenty and I so loved it. In the afternoon, we went around Mudhol to get us some of those famous green pepper fries. My friend was explaining that the pepper was just the hot that was necessary and the fries were just the crunchy. And, he wasn't wrong. That evening we went to a Khanavali, a local eatery, and sat right next to the kitchen where two elderly women (one of them was the owner's mother and the other was an aunt) were baking rotis. Khanavalis are famous in North Karnataka for their fresh food and fresh ingredients. The rotis (we had a choice between jowar/sorghum and wheat) are served hot and they bake according to the order. These are usually accompanied by a spicy and curried vegetable gravy. The food was fresh, spicy, and just fantastic. Most Khanavalis here and around are run by people belonging to the Lingayat community. My friend explained that there is no fixed charge for the food that one eats, one can pay any amount for the food served. The only other thing worth mentioning that night was Usain Bolt's 9.69 secs. Tags: chances4childhood, child education, documentary, foods of india, north karnataka
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chances4childhood is an initiative taken by Everychild to showcase what children play with and how around the world. The showcase includes photographs of children and toys made by children. The exhibition is currently on at the.gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London till December 7. Children from Ukraine, India, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Malawi and Guyana were documented in photos of which I had a fantastic time shooting the kids at Mudhol, in North Karnataka. However, I only came to know about the exhibition dates today (it's been on since November). Tags: chances4childhood, child education, children, children of india, everychild, exhibition, north karnataka, spaceportraiture
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A good thing about Calcutta is the magic of trams. Trams have character. The overhead fans that keeps you cool in the first class car to the railing seats of the second class car to the hiss of the suction brakes to the bespectacled driver of the tram who stands in the front: everything has character. My best moment with the tram is when, while running, the conducting roller spring that draws electricity from the overhead cables gets detached. Well, sometimes, when a tram takes a real tough turn at 10 km per hour, it does get detached. And then, the conductor gets out and pulls a rope that hangs from the roller and adjusts the roller back on the electric cable. He then blows his whistle and the tram cars chug again. The route that I most enjoyed was the Esplanade-Kidderpore route. If I wanted to get down, all I needed to do was ring the bell, the driver would stop the tram car and I could get down. Another reason I love Calcutta. Tags: calcutta, india, trams, trams of calcutta
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